ATLANTA — A taxi driver, who picked up the woman suspected of shooting three men in Midtown Monday, said she could possibly have had more targets.
Giles Patrick Mandio thought it was a normal day when he picked up Raissa Kengne from Midtown. As his in-car camera showed, he came across police and firefighters investigating a scene at the condos at 1280 West Peachtree.
Mandio said he has picked up Kengne before. The two immigrated from Cameroon, he said, and talked about life. Mandio told 11Alive that he noted Kengne's usual classiness and professionalism, but she had some white substance spread across her face, the taxi driver said.
"She looked like she was in some type of fight or something like that," Mandio said. "But at the same time, she kept calm like always. I knew something was up, I just didn't know what was the problem."
On Monday, Mandio said Kengne told him to take her to a home in the Ansley Park neighborhood in Atlanta. When no one answered the door, Kengne got back into the cab after about five minutes, according to the cab driver. Mandio said he told Kengne that he needed to go to the airport to pick up another passenger. Per the cab driver, Kengne told him she needed to go to Marietta, but that he could take her to the airport instead.
11Alive discovered the owner of that home in the Ansley Park neighborhood was listed in a lawsuit Kengne filed against people she felt wronged her. Two of the three victims police said Kengne shot and killed Monday in Midtown were also listed in the lawsuit: Michael Shinners and Wesley Freeman. A third man, Mike Horne, was shot and hospitalized. Kengne is now behind bars, charged with murder.
The owner of the home sent 11Alive a statement from law firm Finch McCranie, explaining the firm had represented Kengne for about seven weeks to look into a potential fraud claim she made against her former company, where Freeman was her boss.
Full statement from Finch McCranie:
Our hearts go out to the families and colleagues of the victims. This is truly a tragedy for them and for our city. Due to the ongoing litigation and our ethical obligations, we cannot discuss Ms. Kengne over the phone or in person, and no one at our law firm will be able to disclose any conversations or other confidential communications we have had with Ms. Kengne. However, in order to provide clear, factual information, we have prepared the following written statement for your use.
Finch McCranie partners Michael Sullivan and Walter Jospin represented Ms. Kengne for a short time last year—about seven weeks-- for the purpose of evaluating a potential SEC Whistleblower claim.
As the public record now shows – the complaint and her LinkedIn posts – she had concerns about how her then-employer, BDO, was performing certain accounting work.
We evaluated the case at no charge to her. We then declined to pursue the claim and ended our representation of her. That is the extent of Finch McCranie’s relationship with Ms. Kengne.
This year, public records show Ms. Kengne has filed several lawsuits. She has sued for various reasons more than 30 people and companies. In one complaint she alleged, without any supporting evidence, that our firm somehow disclosed her confidential information to BDO and had a conflict of interest. There was never any merit to these allegations, as there was no such disclosure of her information and no conflict of interest.
Our firm is cooperating fully with law enforcement in their investigation.
Mandio said while Kengne was in his cab Monday, police contacted him, asking questions about the woman while he was driving to the home and to the airport.
"I'm getting all these phone calls, they're trying to identify the person I have in the car – and she says this never happened to me," Mandio said. "So, did you know anything or are you running from something? She said 'no, you're safe.'"
Mandio would eventually drop off Kengne and alerted police she was at the airport. He told 11Alive he is thankful he is alive to be able to share his story and give the victims' families closure.
"She could probably shoot me and shoot herself," Mandio said. "Now that I'm thinking, I'm very lucky."
Residents at 1280 West Peachtree in Midtown said they are getting flowers and catered meals delivered, as they continue to process the shooting. They are also raising money for the victims' families as they grieve.